Hi: just a quick announcement that the engineering team has released version 3.5 of the Adobe Community Help application. This update is a very significant release that directly addresses a lot of the feedback that we’ve been hearing from the community. The most significant changes include:

Feature

Benefit

1.

Tabbed Browsing

Ability to open multiple pages from multiple sources simultaneously

2.

Favorites/Bookmarks

Ability to bookmark your favorite URLs; note: we prepopulate a set of suggested bookmarks for you based on the products you have installed. Users can of course add/edit/delete any bookmarks that they choose and can organize them via folders, etc.

Ensures developers only have to download one copy of the ASR and not separate, multiple copies for Flash vs. Flex, etc.

5.

Revamped local content download workflow

The entire local content download workflow has been reworked! We have removed the pop-up dialog box and moved the “content update” notification to the footer of the app as well as the homescreen. This ensures an uninterrupted workflow for users who simply want to access content first and foremost.

6.

Performance improvements

The team has worked especially hard on improving the start-up and browsing performance by consolidating a number of disparate server calls into a single initialization service that is only performed at launch. This enables us to cache a number of assets and reduce network calls/dependencies.

7.

Silent application updates

Similar to the changes in the local content download experience, we have also revamped the update experience for the application itself! Going forward, app updates will be downloaded in the background without interruption to the user workflow.

8.

Set-and-forget search options

Search options are now sticky from session to session – for example, if you check the Search Adobe Reference check box for Photoshop, the CHC will remember those options the next time you open the app. This applies to refinements too.

9.

Much more!!

Minimize to sytem tray (for PC users only); upgrade to Flex 4.1 and AIR 2.5; and many, many other enhancements, fixes, etc.!

Note: many of these features were part of our earlier 3.4 release – as some of you know, we had to pull down that release shortly after launch due to server/hardware issues. So only a few users were able to update at the time. CHC 3.5 is now a general release that will support all users and has been extensively tested to ensure robust performance and stability.

To update your app, simply open the Community Help application from your hard disc or visit our download page on adobe.com: